While attempts have been made in the past to produce a lighter, more natural, and even biodegradable absorptive material capable of absorbing a wide variety of liquids including environmentally hazardous liquids, such as oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, other petroleum distillates, and the like, inert liquids, such as water, and other types of liquids, such as paint, solvents, coatings, and the like, improvements nonetheless remain desirable. Conventional clay-based and gel-based absorbents are relatively heavy, cost a considerable amount of money to ship, and are often a burden for purchasers to carry. While many so-called natural absorbents have been introduced into the marketplace, they can be nearly as heavy as conventional clay or mineral based absorbents, typically absorb far less liquid than conventional absorbents, can produce their own unpleasant odor, and many times are difficult to gather when cleaning up after the absorbent has been used to clean up a spill.